Feds: Man with pipe bombs targeted Dems, tech companies
A California man kept a collection of weapons and homemade pipe bombs before sending text messages indicating he wanted “to blow up a democrat building bad” in the days following the riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to the FBI.
Ian Rogers, 44, of Napa, was charged by federal authorities with unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device after law enforcement officers found five pipe bombs inside a gun safe at Rogers' business, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Police also found several guns and “other materials that could be used to manufacture destructive devices, including black powder, pipes, endcaps and manuals,” including “The Anarchist Cookbook,” “U.S. Army Improvised Munitions Handbook” and “Homemade C-4 A Recipe for Survival,” according to the complaint.
The pipe bombs were “fully operational and could cause great bodily harm or injury if handled improperly,” an FBI investigator wrote in the complaint.
Rogers sent a text to a person on Jan. 10, four days after the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that left five people dead, that called for an “attack” on “Twitter or the democrats,” according to the complaint.
“I think we can attack either easily,” he texted.
He also said, “Let's go after Soros,” which an investigator believed to be a reference to billionaire Jewish philanthropist George Soros. He texted the same person the next day, according to the complaint, saying, “I want to blow up a democrat building bad.”